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Israeli Jets Intercept Tony Blair’s Plane
From the AP:
Israeli fighter jets scrambled to intercept an unidentified aircraft suspected to be hostile this week, only to find that it carried none other than Tony Blair, a top military official said Friday.
…The plane failed to respond to repeated control tower radio calls demanding that it identify itself, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the media.
As is common practice in such a case, the Israeli air force sent two fighter jets to intercept the aircraft. They flew above the former British prime minister’s plane and quickly established contact. The pilot told them of the traveler on board, the official added.
Tony Blair To Teach At Yale
From the AFP:
Former British prime minister Tony Blair is to take up a post teaching at Yale, one of the top educational institutions in the United States, the university said Friday.
Blair, who stepped down as prime minister last year after 10 years in power, was to lecture on faith and globalization as the Howland Distinguished Fellow, and would start in the next academic year, the university said.
It’s great that Blair accepted the post at Yale. It would have been fascinating to take a class taught by such a distinguished individual. Unfortunately, his new post will surely bring a few morons out of the woodwork who will attempt to disrupt his classes and protest his employement.
-Chris Jones
Tony Blair Converts to Catholicism
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has left the Church of England and converted to Catholicism, the faith of his wife and children.
Blair converted during a Mass Friday night at the private London chapel of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the church said.
“I’m very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church,” Murphy-O’Connor said.
The church said Blair had been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months had been following a program leading to his reception into the church.
Although he was an Anglican, Blair attended Catholic Masses at Westminster Cathedral, while on holiday in Italy, and with his wife Cherie at 10 Downing St.
The couple’s children have attended Catholic schools.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who is the spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans, wished Blair the best in his spiritual journey.
“Tony Blair has my prayers and good wishes as he takes this step in his Christian pilgrimage. A great Catholic writer of the last century said that the only reason for moving from one Christian family to another was to deepen one’s relationship with God. I pray that this will be the result of Tony Blair’s decision in his personal life.”
Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in June, the month he stepped down as Britain’s prime minister.
Tony Blair Overtakes Bill Clinton As Most Sought-After Speaker
Tony Blair has been paid more than $500,000 for a 20-minute speech in China, meaning he has overtaken Bill Clinton to become the world’s most sought-after public speaker.
Britons might have tired of hearing from the former prime minister but in the southern Chinese industrial town of Dongguan his words appear to be worth their weight in gold.
Mr Blair’s lucrative speech to a group of about 600 Communist party officials, businessmen and investment bankers confirms he has shot into the super league of after-dinner speakers.
Bill Clinton was paid a mere $100,000 for a speaking engagement in Hong Kong late last year.
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